What race events does Trackside mode cover, and with what light effects?

Trackside mode covers all sessions, including free practice, qualifying, and races. Note that not all light effects are applicable to all sessions.

Formation lap

Between the start of the formation lap and the moment the lights go out on the grid, your lights will gently pulse in the "base color". This is applicable to Sprint races and races only.

Race start

When the red lights go out on the grid, your light(s) will pulse in green for around 10s. In the rare event of a safety car start (for example on a very damp track), your lights should then show the "safety car" light effect. This is applicable to all sessions, although of course a lot less impressive during free practice :)

Yellow flags

Yellow flags are displayed per sector, when there is an issue on track (for example a crash or some debris). When yellow flags are out in some portion of the track, your lights will pulse in yellow.
This is applicable to all sessions.

Virtual Safety Car

If the disruption/danger is significant enough, race control will have no choice but to neutralize the race, to make sure that marshalls can safely clear the track. The Virtual Safety Car forces all cars to slow down, while preserving their positions on track. Your lights will also pulse in yellow for the VSC, but the pattern is a lot slower than for yellow flags.

When the Virtual Safety Car ends, your lights will pulse in green for around 5s to indicate the race restart.

This is applicable to all sessions, although virtual safety car is seldom used in qualifying and practice.

Safety Car

If it is necessary to regroup all cars on track so that marshalls can intervene safely, race control will deploy the Safety Car. That GT car will enter the track in front of the race leader, and keep all cars behind it while the track is being clearer. Your lights will indicate this by changing to static yellow.

When the race is about to restart, the Safety Car will enter the pits. Your lights will react with a fast pulsing, still yellow. As soon as the green flag is out and the race restarts, your lights will pulse in green for around 5s.

This is applicable to all sessions, although safety car is seldom used in qualifying and practice.

Red flag

If track conditions are too dangerous to race, race control may choose to interrupt the session altogether, by displaying the red flag. Red flags immediately stop all racing actions, and all cars return to pits. In most cases the race will eventually resume, but if enough distance has been completed, that may be the race finish.

Red flags are indicated by a 1min red pulsing, followed by static red.

This is applicable to all sessions.

Change of race leader

If the lead car changes, your lights will let you know by pulsing in blue for a short time. This is applicable only to Sprint race and race.

Retirement

Although mechanical failures have gotten a lot more uncommon in recent years, retirements can still happen for various reasons. To indicate that a car has retired, your lights will display a static orange for 5s. This is applicable to all sessions.

Clear track and dry/wet conditions

When no particular highlight is going on, your lights will display a static white-ish color. However, we do want to make sure you get informed if the track is wet! So if at least one car is using intermediate or wet tires, the static color will be on the blue-ish side instead. You should notice the difference :)